Chapter 31: The Unhinged, Desire-Driven Hostage Prince x the Favored, Spoiled Princess (31)

"Take off your outer garment."

Shu Yao said coldly, opening a porcelain bottle to pour cinnabar onto a round plate.

"What is this for?"

Zhaoyang had a strong sense of foreboding. Looking at the needle in Shu Yao's hand, she seemed to have guessed her intentions.

Shu Yao had no patience to answer Zhaoyang's question. Bringing her to the Qiwu Palace was already a breach of her established persona, and as a result, she was in a foul mood. Her crimson lips were pressed into a rigid line, and her voice sounded like fragments of jade striking ice.

"I said take it off. If you don't, then get out."

The tail end of her words vanished into the drafty corridor, colder than the newly formed icicles on the eaves.

With fingers trembling, Zhaoyang reached for her shoulders. Biting her lower lip, she slowly began to peel off her outer garment.

To be left in only one's inner layers was an incredibly daring act, especially with an outsider present in the palace. That Zhaoyang was willing to go this far showed she had truly cast all caution to the wind.

*At least this "pure and kind" heroine isn't stubborn,* Shu Yao thought.

She had wondered if her intimacy with Shen Jingmu was merely because the original host's face was too beautiful. If the scar on Zhaoyang's neck were gone, would the plot return to its original course? Could their relationship progress further? She found a very reasonable excuse for her own moment of softness.

"Turn your neck to the side."

Hearing Shu Yao's blunt command, Zhaoyang complied, exposing the bright red, unsightly scar on her neck. The rugged, uneven skin seemed to pulse as if blood were flowing beneath it, and the burn scar was surrounded by a raised ridge of pale flesh. A light touch could feel the rhythmic throbbing of veins beneath the fingertips.

"Is it very ugly?"

Shu Yao held the silver needle, its tip stained with cinnabar, not looking up.

"Yes, ugly."

Zhaoyang curled her fingers, afraid to look into the bronze mirror. Since the scar appeared, she rarely looked in the mirror to avoid sinking into melancholy. Whenever she saw this mark, she felt pulled back into that raging fire.

Jianing had been a mischievous and reckless child. Seeking a thrill, she had locked the palace doors. When a candle stand overturned, the curtains caught fire in an instant. Zhaoyang, enduring the searing pain on her neck, had pushed her toward the wooden window. The palace doors were hammered upon, and the moment tongues of fire licked her hem, the guards broke through and rescued them both. Jianing emerged unscathed, while she was left with this hideous scar.

She had asked herself before: did she regret it? If she had known what kind of person Jianing would become, would she have still risked her life to push her away?

Her final conclusion was—yes, she would.

No matter how many times she asked, she admitted in the depths of her heart, with firmness and clarity, that she would. Who could predict the future? At the very least, in the present, Jianing was the younger sister she cherished most. Even as Jianing became arrogant and vicious, Zhaoyang had always believed it was Anle who had led her astray.

A faint prickling sensation came from her neck. Her long eyelashes fluttered, and Zhaoyang gathered the courage to lift her eyelids. Shu Yao was using the silver needle to lightly pierce her skin. From this angle, Zhaoyang could not see the changes to the scar; she could only see Shu Yao's expressionless profile.

What was she doing? Tattooing?

The incense burned slowly. Zhaoyang's heart hammered like a drum. Each thin needle piercing her skin felt as if it were stabbing into her heart, shaking the internal walls she had built with such difficulty.

Shu Yao withdrew the needle, looked at her handiwork, and the corners of her lips curled into a satisfied smile. Suppressing her excitement, she picked up the bronze mirror from the table and tossed it into Zhaoyang's lap.

"Take a good look. A gift from this Palace."

Her hands trembling, Zhaoyang turned her head. The once bright red scar was completely covered by the cinnabar, forming the layers of a blooming flower. Beads of blood oozing from the needle holes mingled with the cinnabar, condensing into dark red lines along the petals' stems.

This was... a peony in full bloom!

The bronze mirror felt hot in her palms. Zhaoyang stared at that striking peony, her heart filled with shock.

*Clatter!*

The mirror fell hard to the floor.

"Moved to tears?"

Shu Yao suddenly used the needle to lift her chin, the tip glinting coldly under the candlelight. "This tattooing is a method used to punish criminals. Do you actually think I am pitying you?"

"Tsk, tsk. How laughable." Shu Yao laughed until tears almost came to her eyes. "Truly an unloved, lowly servant—so excited by being bullied that you treat it like a favor."

Every word was like poison, stabbing straight into Zhaoyang's heart. Zhaoyang looked up and met the dark tides swirling in Shu Yao's eyes. The silver needle pressed a faint red mark into her jaw, yet it pointedly avoided her veins.

"A criminal?" Zhaoyang suddenly smiled, a bead of blood trickling down her neck and into her collar. "Does the Imperial Sister remember? When you were punished by the Emperor to kneel in the Imperial Garden, who secretly placed a soft cushion under your knees?"

She watched the sudden contraction of Shu Yao's pupils, letting the silver needle slip and pierce her skin. "Now you use this criminal's tattoo to humiliate me—is it because you are afraid others won't know just how ungrateful you are?"

"Shut up!"

Shu Yao swung her sleeve violently, but as the silver needle fell, she reflexively caught the tip, blood trickling down her porcelain-white fingers.

"I am ungrateful? Do you think you are so noble, Imperial Sister? Did you save me time and again just to leave a good impression on Father?"

"I want to humiliate you with a slave's tattoo, so that everyone in the palace knows that the honorable Princess Zhaoyang is no better than the lowest criminal!"

Shu Yao pointed at the door: "Get out!"

—

"Your Highness, you've hurt yourself again..."

Canzhi held the salve taken from the Imperial Physician's Bureau, gently applying it to Shu Yao's palm. The small wound on her palm had stopped bleeding, but Canzhi remained uneasy, not stopping until the entire palm was coated in powder.

Shu Yao raised an eyebrow. "What, are you going to report me to Father again?"

Canzhi was so frightened she dropped the porcelain bottle and fell to her knees with a thud. "This servant would never dare!"

Her younger brother was still in the Princess's hands, his fate uncertain; how could she dare to have a disloyal thought?

Shu Yao rubbed her forehead, unable to stand their habit of kneeling at every turn. "Fine, get up."

Canzhi scrambled up, trembling with worry. "This servant does not mean to betray you, but the Crown Prince of the neighboring country will arrive for a visit in a few days. If you are injured, I fear the Emperor will be displeased."

"Such a tiny blood hole—it will likely be healed long before the Crown Prince arrives."

To call it a blood hole was an exaggeration; it was, at most, a needle prick. Shu Yao opened her palm, and the needle mark covered in medicine was already fading. She didn't believe the Emperor of Chu would go so far as to pry open her hand to inspect it.

Canzhi knew that such a small mark was nothing to fear; she was merely afraid of any mishaps. "You do not understand. If the marriage alliance with the neighboring Crown Prince is finalized, on the eve of the departure, the lady officials will remove all your clothing to inspect every inch of your body."

"Only when the lady officials place their seal, proving you possess a flawless, pristine, and jade-pure body, will you be qualified for the marriage alliance."

Shu Yao let out an exaggerated "Ha."

An honorable princess, treated like mere cargo during a marriage alliance, subjected to layers of inspection before being delivered to her master. Such blatant humiliation and overstepping—and the Emperor of Chu had actually agreed to it.

It seemed the Great Chu was not as powerful as she had imagined. If they were truly powerful, they would have no need to send a princess for a marriage alliance.